Belgian pig breeder Rattlerow Seghers exports sows to Beijing

Belgian breeder Rattlerow Seghers has exported breeding pigs to Beijing at the beginning of April, to expand the companies breeding pyramid in a country with 60 million sows.

"Thanks to our efforts during the last 15 years, and our presence in 28 of the 32 Chinese provinces, Rattlerow Seghers has an established reputation for performance. Our company is recognized as one of the few national breeding companies which can obtain import licenses and we look forward working closer with the Chinese," said StefanDerks, the company’s co-CEO.

At this moment, the recently exported breeding stock are in a specially built quarantine facility where they will stay for 45 days before entering the nucleus breeding farm.

Fast expansion
The fast expansion of pig production is one of the main actions in the Chinese government’s plan. The demand for pork meat keeps on rising. This has resulted in market prices increasing to €1.65/kg live weight, making the Chinese pig business profitable in spite of the high cost of raw materials.

The Chinese pig industry is looking to Europe for knowledge and new genetic lines to make rapid breed improvement. This offers plenty of opportunities to European genetic companies to increase the export volume to China.

Ten years ago, the company set up a joint-venture pig breeding farm in Hebei province, 250 kilometres south of Beijing.